CSU Women's Basketball

First-place Rams look to clinch regular-season title in Border War

Colorado State (21-4, 13-1 MW) is on the road to challenge vs. Wyoming (17-7, 8-5 MW), in the first installment of the Border War. Tipoff on Saturday is scheduled for 2 p.m. MT at Arena Auditorium. The game will be broadcast LIVE on KIIX AM 1410, as well as online with the iHeartRadio app at kiixcountry.com/listen.

With an 8-15 record at this point last year, the Rams have made their biggest one-year turnaround in program history, and secured their first 20-win campaign in 11 years under Head Coach Ryun Williams, now in his second season. The team is off to its best start in 15 years, winning 17 of its last 18, and the Rams are looking to extend their win streak to 11 games in the midst of conference play.

With the addition of two teams to the conference this season, schedule shuffling prevented the teams from playing two identical rounds, so the Rams have yet to see Wyoming. The two teams will play each other twice in 13 days.

About Wyoming

Wyoming is the only team, besides CSU, to be undefeated at home in the Mountain West Conference. The Cowgirls have just one loss in Laramie this season, coincidentally to Colorado, by the exact same score as the Rams' loss, 63-59.

Up until Wednesday, the Cowgirls were in third place in the league standings. A loss at Fresno, 65-60, sent them down to fifth place.

UW's loss at Fresno State snapped a four-game win streak. The Cowgirls led by as much as eight early in the second half, but the Bulldogs chipped away at their advantage, and a four-minute scoring drought sealed Wyoming's fate. Fallon Lewis led the team with 18 points.

MW Preseason Player of the Year, Kayla Woodward, is the team's leading scorer at 17.7 points per game, ranking third in the league. She's second in rebounding to Lewis (9.6; 1st MW) with 7.3 boards per contest.

Woodward and Kaitlyn Mileto are the team's two scoring threats from three-point range, with 64 and 63 treys on the year, respectively. Both fall in the top five of the conference rankings.

UW is second, just behind CSU in scoring offense, averaging 74.3 points per game. The team also ranks second to the Rams in field-goal percentage (.429), three-point percentage defense (.303), assists (15.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2).

Series vs. the Cowgirls

Saturday's meeting is 87th game between the two schools, according to Colorado State. Wyoming recognizes three additional matchups before 1980, all of which were losses for CSU. Following the Rams' record book, Wyoming has a slight edge in the series, with a 44-42 advantage over CSU all-time.

The Rams are 16-23 in Laramie. CSU's last win in Laramie was on Feb. 23, 2002 (64-62 OT).

Head Coach Ryun Williams is 0-3 in his career vs. the Cowgirls. Wyo is the only team in the Mountain West he doesn't have a win against.

The last time Cowgirls and Rams played, the Rams fell to the Wyoming Cowgirls, 65-51, during their final home game of the season at Moby Arena on March 6, 2013.

A win will...

Capture the No. 1 seed in the MW tournament. The Rams own the tie-breaker over Boise State with the win in Boise Wednesday.

Stretch the most wins ever for CSU in the Mountain West, with 14 league victories, and tie the most-ever conference victories dating back to 1998-99, when the Rams finished 14-0 in the WAC.

Secure the most wins overall since 2001-02, when Colorado State finished 24-7.

Bring the Rams' win streak to 11 games, the longest streak since 1998-99, when CSU produced its best record in program history at 33-3, which included a 19-game run.

Extend the longest win streak ever for the Rams during Mountain West play, and approach the longest streak in conference play since the fabled 1998-99 season, when the Rams finished a perfect 14-0 in league action.

Approach the most home wins since 2002-03, when the Rams went 17-1 at Moby Arena.

Upcoming

Colorado State plays the first of its final two home games vs. UNLV Wednesday, February 26. Tipoff vs. the Lady Rebels at Moby Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast LIVE on KIIX AM 1410, as well as online with the iHeartRadio app at kiixcountry.com/listen.